Deleted Recipes While Syncing

While syncing my cookbooks and recipes, it started deleting them from MasterCook on my computer. How do I fix this?

If the sync files on your computer become corrupted and can't connect with your original online cookbook and its recipes, it creates a duplicate online cookbook and syncs with it from this point on. So, you end up with two cookbooks with the same name online, and your recipes split between those two online cookbooks. It can only sync with one of them since MasterCook on the computer cannot handle duplicate cookbook names.

When this happens, the one on the computer is synced with the newest cookbook (the duplicate it created). You haven't lost your recipes yet. They are still ALL online within two online cookbooks by the same name. It's easy to correct. You don't lose any recipes. However, you must correct it exactly as explained below.

IMPORTANT: Please make sure you are using the most up-to-date MasterCook 15 product. See here: MasterCook 15 Updates

1. Go to the My Account screen in My MasterCook Manager on the computer and log out of your MasterCook.com account to disconnect it from My MasterCook Manager. Do not log back in until the very end of these instructions.

Are your cookbooks and recipes online? Do you see any duplicate cookbook titles in that online cookbooks page? Duplicate online cookbooks will cause this problem.

3. Click on the Download link next to one of your online duplicate cookbooks. This downloads an .mz2 file to your computer. (Keep a copy of it for backup purposes.) If you have a large number of recipes, it can take awhile for it to start and finish downloading, so please be patient.

Depending on your web browser settings, it may or may not automatically open when it finishes downloading. After the file downloads, open it. The computer should pass the file off to MasterCook 15 on the computer, so it can use that file.

At this point MasterCook 15 on the computer will ask to create a new cookbook in MasterCook on the computer. Give it a new name and do that. Do that for the other duplicate cookbook. Once you have both of these cookbooks in MasterCook 15, open the one that has the least amount of recipes. Select the recipe titles listed on the screen and copy the recipes. (Use the Select All and then Copy Recipes commands from the Edit menu.) Then open the other cookbook and paste them in there.

At this point you should have the new cookbook in MasterCook 15 that has your combined recipes.

I would suggest you always log out of My MasterCook Manager after you are done syncing. Then work on your recipes from the computer. Before you sign back into My MasterCook Manager, go to the Cookbooks screen in MasterCook on the computer and select Refresh File List from the Tools menu.

TIP: Refresh while you are signed out of My MasterCook Manager. This clears out corrupt sync files on the computer. You should NOT be signed into My MasterCook Manager when you refresh.

After you refresh create a backup copy of your files. That's quick and easy. Then sign back into My MasterCook Manager and sync. Do those six things:

1. Sign out of My MasterCook Manager. 2. Edit recipes on the computer. 3. Refresh while you are signed out of My MasterCook Manager. 4. Create a backup of your files. 5. Sign into My MasterCook Manager and sync. 6. Sign out of My MasterCook Manager.

September 7, 2018 Update- We are currently in the process of replacing the sync manager with another one that is more reliable. We will be testing it within a week. Hopefully an update to MasterCook 15 will be available within two weeks with this new sync manager.